The below initiatives were all part of Maragheh’s COVID-19 response plan. They tackle themes relevant to schooling/education, food security and the mobilization of charities and volunteers. They were primarily funded by donors.

1. Providing Protective Equipment Through Charity:

Shortage in protective equipment in hospitals would be resulted in corona transferring among the personnel. Therefore, the local municipality started to communicate with the public and simultaneously informed the community about the hospital needs via social media.  All these resulted in a meaningful participation of donors in preparing the protective equipment for the hospital. A large number of these items were provided by donors. Frontline fighters against COVID-19 were identified as a vulnerable population, therefore they were the target group for this initiative.

2. Organizing Volunteer Groups for Disinfecting Surfaces:

Different volunteer groups’ activities in disinfecting public places could result in some problems such as parallel work, using the wrong amounts of disinfectant, wrong disinfection methods and etc. More than a dozen volunteer groups with more than 100 human resources have been working to disinfect the public places surfaces since the beginning of the Corona epidemic. To ensure that the disinfection process is done properly and effectively, the Disinfection Committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Governor of Maragheh. Urban areas were divided between different volunteer groups based on municipal divisions. Considering that the focus of this initiative was crowded spaces in low-income areas, this initiative primarily targets vulnerable low-income groups.

3. Health Ambassador Student Plan:

It was observed that members of the community were not well informed about COVID 19, considering the lack of protective measures being implemented within households. Children in the families can play an important role in raising their family member's sensitivity about healthy behaviors in daily life. 12 schools were entered in this plan and students were asked to fill a habit tracker table about preventive behaviors against corona virus on a weekly basis. The aim of the plan was to encourage students to follow preventive measures. In addition, we asked them to play a role in their families and warn them if they see unhealthy behaviors pertinent to the spread of COVID-19 (Appendix 1). In this plan, the national online school named SHAD was the national network for online education.

4. Food for The Poor:

Many employees have lost their income due to the lockdown and they require financial and non-financial support to meet their basic needs. This initiative there aimed to provide food worth 138,600,000,000 Rials (equal to USD 900,000) for poor families. This initiative primarily targets vulnerable, poverty-stricken families.

The aforementioned initiatives sought to tackle varying aspects of the pandemic, as described below:

Providing Protective Equipment Through Charity: This initiative aimed to protect the health of frontline staff fighting COVID 19.

Organizing Volunteer Groups for Disinfecting Surfaces: This initiative aimed to ensure the proper and effective functioning of volunteer groups.

Health Ambassador Student Plan: This initiative aimed to promote protective behaviours against COVID 19 among children.

Food for The Poor: This initiative aimed to provide food security for people affected economically by the corona pandemic.

Initiative Evaluation (Post-Pandemic):

Providing Protective Equipment Through Charity: This initiative has resulted in a network of health donors whose aid will be beneficial when improving health infrastructure in the city after the pandemic.

Organizing Volunteer Groups for Disinfecting Surfaces: This initiative has allowed for the establishment of a wider network of volunteers who will be referred to during future community initiatives. 

Health Ambassador Student Plan: This plan increases students' social responsibility as promoters of healthy lifestyles in the family, and within the wider social sphere.

Food for The Poor: This initiative allowed for the development of a database that includes both vulnerable individuals and donors who are interested in food donation. It also highlights centres that have potential in terms of food preparation equipment and infrastructure for reference during future crises.

Initiative Results

Providing Protective Equipment Through Charity: Financial and non-financial donations worth 14,000,000,000 Rials (equal to USD100,000) have been provided by charities to equip hospitals and primary health care centres. Maragheh is one of the most proactive cities in attracting charity during the COVID-19 epdiemic in Iran. All the needs of the hospitals were met, and the required protective equipment was stored in the central store.

Organizing Volunteer Groups for Disinfecting Surfaces: High priority public surfaces were disinfected in a proper and effective manner.

Health Ambassador Student Plan: 588 (15.2%) of students from 12 schools in Maragheh city have participated in practicing the protective behaviours through fulfilling the habit tracker tables.

Food for The Poor: Providing food worth 138,600,000,000 Rials (equal to USD 900,000) for the poor.